In order for the No. 1 Huskies to maximize their potential against the front lines they'll confront come March, the new kids on the blocks will need to assert themselves, physically and emotionally, when push comes to shove.

Currently, that seems somewhat counter-culture to them.

So Saturday, UConn coach Geno Auriemma had a notion, as he often does. He went small against smallish Lehigh on the second night of the World Vision Challenge.

He did so because this is the time of the year to experiment and he knows there is more than one way to prepare to win a third straight national championship.

No Dolson until the start of the second half. No Buck until 14:59 remained to play. No problem.

Maya Moore scored 24 of her 29 points in the first half to lead UConn to a 81-38 over Lehigh before 7,039 at Gampel Pavilion.

"I was mesmerized by the UConn football game Saturday," Auriemma said. "It takes a lot of people to win a football game and a basketball game. But the strategy isn't difficult whether in Maui, East Hartford or Storrs.

"It's just a matter of who is calling timeout. If its Coach Calhoun, he says give Kemba [Walker] the ball. If Coach Edsall calls timeout, he says hand the ball to Jordan [Todman]. If I call timeout, it's give Maya the ball as many times as we can and see where it takes us.

"Coaching is easy, providing you have the kind of player no one else has."

The victory was UConn's 83rd straight, leaving them five shy of the UCLA men's all-time NCAA Division I record.

The Huskies (5-0) play LSU this afternoon in the final game of the three-day tournament. LSU (4-3) has defeated both Lehigh and Howard this weekend. They beat the Bison 69-39 in Saturday's first game.

Tiffany Hayes had 14 points for the Huskies, who had four players score in double figures. Freshmen Bria Hartley and Samarie Walker scored 11 each.

Moore came in needing 77 points to tie Tina Charles for the most career points in program history, and she chipped off a major chunk to help the Huskies to a 44-19 halftime lead.

It was Moore of the same: She was 11-for-16 with three rebounds, four assists and four steals in the half. She ended the day 12 of 21 in 28 minutes.

There was a time in the first half when she was the only big (and she's just 6 feet) on the floor with four guards around her. Other times, she shared the post with Walker, who started for Dolson.

"I think I have a little bit more of a warrior mind-set when I'm out there with that lineup," Moore said. "I'm thinking I have to hold it down for my team. It's something I have to be prepared to do."

Junior center Alexa Williams was the tallest player for Lehigh (1-5), but she came into the game with the lowest rebounding average among its starters.

And so, the opportunity to experiment presented itself.

Dolson and Buck had combined for 21 points in Friday's win over Howard, after scoring only 14 points total in the first three victories. But Auriemma poked fun at Dolson after the Howard game for getting only two rebounds.

"We didn't want to wear her out," Auriemma said Saturday. "Those two rebounds took a lot out of her. We want to make sure we save her for the stretch run."

Once in the game. Dolson played fine for five minutes, scoring on her first possession, then again on a fluid move to the hoop after receiving a pass.

UConn never trailed. It rolled off 12 straight to take a 23-7 lead, then went on a 13-0 run to stretch the lead to 42-17.

Moore played the entire first half after logging just 22 minutes on Friday. Walker played 19 minutes in the half, as did Hayes, who bounced back from a bit of a shooting slump to make 4 of 9.

"I needed the first shot to drop," Hayes said. "I was talking to Lorin Dixon and I told her that all I needed was one. And when it did, my confidence kind of filled in."